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| Operation of the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system |
The idea of creating an American version of Israel's Iron Dome has faced serious criticism from defense industry experts. At the IDEX exhibition taking place these days, experts expressed a unanimous opinion about the ineffectiveness of such a system against modern missile threats.
The very fact that the Trump administration has decided to adopt Israel's successful technology speaks to the recognition of its effectiveness at the level of short-range tactical missiles. However, the attempt to scale this concept to the level of protecting entire continents from strategic missiles raises many questions.
The main arguments against this idea are as follows:
1. The difference in tasks is that the Israeli system is designed to intercept short- and medium-range missiles, while the American armed Forces need to counter intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), hypersonic complexes and new generations of cruise missiles.
2. The scale of the territory - the protection of a small state like Israel is radically different from the need to cover the vast expanses of North America or Europe.
3. The economic component - the cost of intercepting one missile significantly exceeds the price of the target missile itself, which makes the system economically unprofitable in conditions of a massive strike.
4. Technological limitations - existing Iron Dome technologies are not adapted to work with hypersonic objects and ICBMs.
At the same time, it is worth noting that President Trump's decision to introduce such a system has its own rational grounds. Modern threats really require new approaches in the protection of airspace. However, copying the Israeli experience without taking into account the specifics of American realities can lead to the creation of an expensive but insufficiently effective system.
Perhaps a more productive way would be to develop our own missile defense technologies that take into account the specifics of modern threats and the protection of large territories. This could include the integration of various levels of protection, from atmospheric interceptor systems to ground-based laser defense mechanisms.
Thus, although the idea of using the experience of the Iron Dome deserves attention, its practical implementation requires serious refinement and adaptation to specific application conditions. The question remains open, and further developments will show whether the American version of the system will be able to overcome all technical and economic obstacles on the way to full functioning.
For the Pentagon, this is another example of how important it is to find the right balance between borrowing foreign technologies and developing its own innovative defense solutions.
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